Introduction to Photograms

‘Photogram’
An image produced without a camera by placing an object on photosensitive paper and exposing it to light.

Since the origins of photography, what we know today as photograms have allowed a very different kind of image making to that with a camera.

The process is one of the simplest in photography, but with the skill and talent of artists, can be use to create stunning images.

A photogram is an image formed directly onto photographic paper, without the use of a lens. The image produced is made from a range of tones, from brilliant white to dense black, with different shades depending on how exposed an area has been. Different exposure times, or multiple exposures, and the use of opaque and translucent objects, form the striking black and white prints of photograms.

From the early pioneers of photography, through the abstract working of the 1920’s and 30’s artists, to recent photographers who blend the photogram’s basic image making with computer manipulation, all have embraced the process, and it is their work that I will be looking at in this project.